Affliction’s problems

I have no idea who Mike Chiappetta is or what his credentials are. But because his stuff appears on MSNBC.com, it makes me think he’s probably a reputable individual with intelligent thoughts on MMA. I know that’s not really a safe assumption considering some of the banality we’ve already seen via Sports Illustrated and Yahoo, but what can I say. Chiappetta hasn’t shown himself to be a moron and you have to figure that the big sites get it right every so often in the form of the Meltzers and Grosses.

Anyways the point of all this is to say that I’m glad Chiappetta is agreeing with me on the hardships Affliction faces. I was starting to feel like I was just another member of the MMA blogosphere gang bang, giving it to Affliction in all holes because we’re drunk on hate. Here’s his thoughts on the situation:

At the time of the announcement, Affliction trumpeted Golden Boy’s promotional muscle as one of the major benefits of the deal. With the event less than two months away and the holidays taking up a large percentage of people’s attention, it won’t be easy to gain marketing traction in that time. The real push likely won’t start until early January, and Golden Boy will have its attention in two places.

Adding to the trouble is that the world leader in MMA – the UFC – has two major events in January, UFC 93 and 94. The former features a main event of Rich Franklin vs. Dan Henderson; the latter boasts a superfight between lightweight champ B.J. Penn and welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre. Those events are on Jan. 17 and Jan. 31, respectively, and both are on pay-per-view, effectively meaning that MMA fans will be faced with the decision of plunking down close to $50 three weeks in a row. Zuffa, well aware of what’s at stake, is certain to put on the full-court press and try to bury Affliction.

Long story short, Affliction needs all the help they can get, and Golden Boy can not offer all their resources because they will be allocated to their No. 1 business. Wouldn’t it be logical that if Golden Boy was fully invested in MMA, they would focus on it completely for one night?

This is all assuming of course that Affliction’s January 24th event actually ends up happening. The last Affliction show was cancelled a month after tickets were put on sale. If history repeats itself, the new show would end up getting the axe right before Christmas. Maybe a little bit earlier so FEG can find an opponent for Fedor in Japan for New Years Eve. But is that just hating? Or does everyone else think that’s going to happen too?